Colorado theater shooting trial verdict reached

The defense did not deny that Holmes was the perpetrator of the shootings, but instead argued that the former University of Colorado graduate student was in a diminished capacity when the shootings occurred according to Reuters.

After James Holmes was found guilty on 165 counts in the Aurora, Colorado massacre, family members of his victims expressed an outpouring of emotion. The jury heard evidence that Mr. Holmes told others that he fantasized about killing people as a way to increase his “human capital”.

“When I testified we made awkward eye contact”, Gharbi said.

The verdict came after 2 1/2 years of legal skirmishing and 11 weeks of grueling testimony. Although the trial lasted three months, the jury only took 12 hours to deliberate when they came back with the guilty verdict.

Prosecutor George Brauchler described the events of the day of the shooting.

Jurors began deliberations around 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, after a late-night hearing closing arguments.

Holmes’ parents sat behind him during the announcement, holding hands and looking straight ahead in shock.

Information for this article was contributed by Sadie Gurman of The Associated Press; by Mark Berman of The Washington Post; by Jack Healy and Julie Turkewitz of The New York Times; and by Maria L. La Ganga of the Los Angeles Times.

He now either faces life in prison or the death sentence. “Only the mental illness caused this to happen, and nothing else”. “It ends up being a much more personal decision”. Before the verdict was read, the judge ordered that there not be any sudden outbursts in the court. Prosecutors will present so-called aggravating factors in support of the death penalty, including the large number of victims.

James Holmes, mass murderer: Guilty on all counts.

Sullivan nodded his head as the verdict was read Thursday.

“We’re very happy this animal, this monster, will never see the light of day”, Phillips said later outside court. Young told the media she was a bit confused as to how she was going to feel walking into the courtroom, but after the verdicts were in, she simply felt relief.

A jury has found James Holmes guilty of murder for the Aurora movie theater attack, one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

Holmes showed no reaction as the verdicts were read.

Play video “Aurora Killer’s State Of Mind”. “As soon as you heard the first guilty, we knew all the dominoes were about to fall”, said Tom Sullivan, whose son Alex also was killed, the AP said.

Holmes, 27, admitted to the killings, and said that he was not guilty by reasonable insanity.

Having bought a ticket 12 days earlier, Holmes on July 19, 2012, walked into the theater No. 9 screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” like other patrons. There also were 140 charges relating to the 70 people wounded in the attack along with one explosives charge. One man just closed his eyes and nodded. They recalled the panic to escape the black-clad gunman.